Waiting for 4G LTE in Rural Towns is Worse with iPhone 5

For that reason I will pre-order one Friday to use as secondary phone on the line we used for our family line. In fact, that one feature alone makes me want the phone since the rest of the features are a small let down to me.

I carry five phones on my AT&T contract, one for each of my four family members and the family line. Last month we ditched our cable provider’s phone service and added a line to our account using my old iPhone 4S off contract. With five phones I really wish AT&T would upgrade the data service in our tiny town to 4G LTE. Verizon already flipped the switch early this summer but AT&T makes no promises only saying, “It’s coming in 2013.” In other words it could show up anytime.

In reality we get nothing close to the speeds listed in the chart since we only can get HSPA and in another area HSPA+. I’m happier than I was when we could only get basic 3G, but miss the speed of 4G LTE.

Because Verizon’s LTE rollout outpaced AT&T’s in our area, I went with the Verizon iPad. Now the iPhone 5 includes LTE so I’m really tempted to switch that line. That means paying for a full contract instead of just an add-on phone in my AT&T family share plan. Having to wait for the rollout here in podunkville is tough!

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I understand that its a numbers game with the carriers. They can’t blanket the country in one fell swoop, but I really wish AT&T would move faster. If you’re a rural customer, then you understand how I feel.